1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a prosthetic foot and more particularly to a prosthetic foot with an insole that facilitates a smooth rollover of the prosthetic foot during use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prosthetic feet of different designs are well known in the art. The various conventional designs have sought to solve various limitations associated with prosthetic feet.
Common to many conventional prosthetic foot designs is the desire to approximate the feel and fluid range of motion of a human foot's natural stride. One aspect of said natural stride is the ability to fluidly transition from heel-strike to toe-off during motion of the foot.
Some conventional designs attempt to provide said fluid transition by incorporating springs of different types (e.g., leaf spring) and shapes (e.g., C-shaped, U-shaped) to store and release energy during motion of the prosthetic foot. However, such energy-storing and energy-releasing designs do not provide the desired degree of stride fluidity and rollover characteristics during foot motion that approximate the motion of a natural human foot. For example, conventional prosthetic foot designs can experience a sudden impact when the metatarsal portion of the prosthetic foot initially contacts the ground, where the load center of the prosthetic foot travels anteriorly extremely fast, thereby providing an unnatural and uncomfortable gait during ambulation.
Accordingly, there is a need for a prosthetic foot with improved stride fluidity and rollover performance.